Jefferson City 3: Charlie - The Ranger

Something is wrong, but it's also not wrong. They'd hear a noise coming from around the corner of one of the buildings, the robot from before suddenly bursting from around it, charging straight at the trio, its hooves heavy against the ground. However, it appeared slower from when Liltotto had fought it and multiple parts of its body seemed to be missing, armored areas exposed and sparking.

That did not stop it from charging the three, green energy appearing around its body as it turned itself into a bullet that hoped for nothing more than to murder the three right then and there.

She hardly needed to hear it's footsteps to know full damn well it was coming, she recognized that wafting of energy pounding their way. Immediately she went to Daniel right as the machine moved to round the corner, hardly even thinking about Lion's fate as she was intent on preserving their own. In that instant, she grabbed the boy's arm and began dragging him with little apology or warning into the nearest alleyway with only the slight gesture to Kokuto to get a move on before vanishing into the smaller spaces, quickly searching her surroundings as she tried to make sure they were in a place where Daniel could keep running if needed before pulling him toward her and gripping his shoulders with intent, a fierceness in her gaze,

"Daniel, I understand you want us to be together on this," She'd calmly yet quickly speak as she heard those footsteps grow closer, "But if you fight that thing, You. Will. Die. I don't want you to think i'm pushing you to the side, but you'd be helping us a lot more if you stayed where that thing can't reach you. I have my com line open, if anything happens try to contact me immediately. Keep yourself safe, if you hear anything sort of loud crumbling or splintering sounds, assume a building is about to fall - keep moving if that's the case."

With a tense shake, she'd add to emphasize, "Do NOT go out in the open unless your cover isn't safe anymore."

Releasing his shoulders, she'd quickly reemerge from the alleyway, her weapon shifting and transforming into a bow as she'd pull the draw back and fire a single arrow into the air, her gaze looking about for Kokuto as she was fully intent on one thing,

"HEY RUSTFUCK!" She'd yell, firing a single arrow at the head of the machination to further annoy and draw it's attention, "HERE!"

With that, she'd make a break for it in the opposite direction - away from where she left Daniel to lure the enemy someplace where he wouldn't get caught up in the collateral damage, at least a block or two away if she could manage it.

"KOKUTO!"

The loud noise of the quadrupedal robot making its presence known snapped Daniel out of his train of thought and brought him back to reality. This was the thing that Liltotto had fought correct? The thing she couldn't take down solo? He supposed the three of them had a better chance than any one person alone and got ready to cast a spell to form some kind of distraction before he was violently dragged away, dropping his silver cylinder in the process, and causing the spell to fizzle. The surprise at what was going on causing him to momentarily panic before he realized Liltotto had dragged him to an alleyway. For a few seconds Daniel was confused, maybe she wanted to discuss strategy, but then that thought was crushed.

More like he was crushed. She thought so little of him to believe there was no chance that he could help them, not even a tiny bit, and in his mind a few thoughts that he had kept buried since joining the Vandenreich entered his mind. So that was what this was? They weren't comrades, he was the baby to be babysat, and in the first bad situation he was to be stowed away for protection. He appreciated the thought, that they wanted to protect him, and all, but not like this. Not in this way. Before he could say anything she was already gone, he was being left alone again, and the only one to blame for that was himself. He was a weakling in a world filled with gods that were above his pay grade.

"Handpicked my ass..."

Daniel scoffed as the only thing he could say was drowned out by the sound of the machine drawing closer. He grit his teeth and clenched his fists, panic fading to unyielding rage, and disappointment. What could he do? How could he do it? Now was not the time to dwell on being treated poorly for just existing, for not being up to snuff, and not being the perfect team mate that they needed.

"So what are you going to do about it, Daniel? Do what you're told again?"

Daniel stood there, deep in thought, and remembered the earlier strategy they had used against the mechanical quasi-quincy. They had used a small EMP spell to cause damage to their electrical systems and while Daniel was unsure if something that small could effectively damage this machine, he wondered if a bigger version of that spell could do some work here. Yes, maybe that would work. He would need time and his teammates were giving him that time, hopefully. He began to gather reishi from around him, hoping that maybe he could magnify the power of the EMP spell he had made earlier by increasing the number of cylinders and by increasing the amount of energy gathered. It would not be a swift cast spell and it would take time, but maybe. Just maybe.

Kokuto's danger sense sung loud as he looked around, his body moving before he could think as flames erupted from his hands and feet to propel him forward. As Liltotto went to drag Daniel out of the way, Kokuto surged toward the charging mecha-monster, using his entire body like a missile as he crashed into the thing, intent on diverting its path, or, at best, sending it flying in the opposing direction of his two companions.

Channeling more energy throughout and around his body, his flames began to turn blue, raising the temperature tens of hundreds of feet away, with heat waves causing visible warpage to the air around them as the demon's skin slowly began turning red. The moment he heard Liltotto call his name, his body shot from its place like a meteor, intending on once again slamming into the creature with the force of a tank round, causing blue flames to erupt from the impact.

Even if his flames, somehow, weren't able to melt the hide off their mechanical adversary, his strength and the overall power of his flames assuredly had to have some effect, whether it be affecting its electronics, or warping the metal itself, Kokuto hoped to at least do some level of damage to it as he sought to push it away from where Daniel was, over to where Liltotto was wanting to lead it to.

Pzzt. Two lifeforms detected. Pzzt. Activate Super speed. Pzzt.

That same energy Liltotto had felt before from the machine began to permeate the air around it as its hooves transformed. The arrow she had fired was easily dodged as it moved its head, and Kokuto would find his advance dodged. However, it was simply dodged as the machine released a torrent of energy from its body before it simply vanished without a trace or even being detectable, the only sign it was still in the area proving the shattering glass of the buildings where it moved. It all happened too fast though, one second, it's there, and the other, it's not before they'd sense it as it stopped between them, steam erupting from its body as it pointed both its arms, one at Liltotto, and the other at Kokuto.

Pzzt. Full power. Pzzt.

Green energy gathered from the canons that its hands had turned into before it fired two powerful lasers at the two, the output enough to blow through the buildings if they dodged.

Her feet moved faster than her thoughts, the rush of adrenaline in the face of the mechanical threat enough to keep her active. Amber eyes proactively traced it's movements, the fast beast attempting to lose her sight, but she sensed the movement of it's presence,

"BETWEEN US!" She'd yell right as it reappeared, prepared to blow the both of them away with it's incoming attack. Her stance dropped immediately as she made an incredibly intention run toward the machine, narrowly falling out of the way of the laser's strike as she used reishi to reduce the friction of her sliding path directly to the beast, her bow pointed up with a strange looking tip, as if a familiar light and darkness were compressed into the tip. As the beast was busy attacking, the blonde would be making ways to slide underneath it, and right as she reached the apex of it's underside form, she'd release the taut arrow as her trajectory kept her going far past the creature and back onto her feet as the arrow detonated if the movement was executed well.

A sphere of Reißen was embedded into the arrow's point, in which the arrow's strike into it's underside would lead to a burst of erosive energy chewing away at the points it managed to touch in hopes it added to the machine's compromised integrity.